26 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



of the nineteeiilli century. Present difficulties are serious enough, and 

 press for all our attention, without dwelling unduly on troubles of the 

 past. But we must at least remember that in the early days of the 

 British Association ' schools ' of chemistry were in their infancy, and 

 that systematic instruction in the science was difficult to obtain. 

 Another point of fundamental importance which has to be borne in 

 mind is that the masters of the subject were then for the most part 

 solitary workers. 



It is difficult for us, looking back through the years, to realise 

 what it must have meant to search for truth under conditions which 

 were discouraging, if not actually hostile. Yet, although his labours 

 were often thankless and unrewarded, the chemist of the time was 

 probably a riper philosopher and a finer enthusiast than his successor 

 of to-day. He pursued his inquiries amidst fewer distractions, and 

 in many ways his lot must have been happy, save when tormented by 

 the thought that a subject so potent as chemistry in developing the 

 intellectual and material welfare of the community should remain 

 neglected to an extent which to us seems incredible. 



Public sympathy was lacking, Government support was negligible 

 or grudgingly bestowed, and there was little or no co-operation between 

 scientific chemistry and industry. As an unaided enthusiast the 

 chemist was left to pursue his way without the stimulus, now happily 

 ours, which comes from the feeling that work is supported by educated 

 and enlightened appreciation. 



Let me quote from one of Faraday's letters now in my possession 

 and, so far as I can trace, unpublished. Writing to a friend imme- 

 diately before the foundation of the British Association, he relates that 

 a manufacturer had adopted a process developed in the course of an 

 investigation carried out in the Eoyal Institution. The letter con- 

 tinues : ' He ' (the manufacturer) ' writes me word that, having repeated 

 our experiments, he finds the product very good, and as our information 

 was given openly to the world he, as a matter of compliment, has 

 presented me with some pairs of razors to give away.' If ever there 

 was a compliment which could be described as empty, surely this was 

 one ; yet the letter gives the impression that Faraday himself was quite 

 content with his reward. 



It is perhaps unfair to quote Faraday as a type, for few men are 

 blessed with his transparent simplicity of character, but there is 

 obviously a great gulf fixed between the present day and a time when 

 a debt of honour could be cancelled in such a manner. A little reflec- 

 tion will show that the British Association has played a useful part 

 in discrediting the idea that because so much scientific discovery is 

 given ' openly to the world,' those who profit by such discoveries should 

 be absolved from their reasonable obligations. Even where scientific 

 workers do not expect or desire personal reward, the institutions which 

 provide them with their facilities are often sorely in need. The recogni- 

 tion, not yet complete, but more adequate than once was the case, 

 that the labourer is worthy of his hire represents only one minor change 

 which the years have brought. 



An even greater contrast, embodying more important principles, is 



